CHAPTER 6
1070 Words
Winter in the city had its own brand of cruelty.
Snow that soaked through your boots.
Wind sharp enough to peel skin.
Sidewalks turned to glass, waiting for fresh victims.
The subway was a humid furnace that forced you to undress, only to freeze the second you stepped outside again.
But the worst part wasn’t the cold.
It was knowing this was my last week at work.
I didn’t get the job.
Once the internship ended, I was out.
I had already started applying elsewhere—my gut told me it was over the moment the evaluation panel avoided eye contact.
No more internships.
No more underpaid work.
No more begging my parents for rent.
I promised myself I’d make it in this city.
Michael kept telling me not to worry—that he’d help me polish my resume, recommend me to his clients.
My gentle Michael. My unicorn.
Kind. Steady. Everything a normal girl should want.
Darkness fell absurdly early these days. Walking home became dangerous. I had already fallen once and bruised half my shoulder.
I was stepping carefully, mind drifting, when someone shoved me from behind.
“Move it, grandma!”
I fell hard, pain slicing through my back. Before I could get up, a hand grabbed my bag. For a heartbeat, I thought someone was helping me.
They weren’t.
“STOP! PLEASE! HELP!”
No one reacted.
People had become numb.
Eyes forward.
Ignore everything.
The thief lifted his leg, ready to kick me and run—
And something invisible shoved him backward. Hard.
He stumbled, eyes bulging.
“What the hell?!”
I froze too.
Then a voice rose behind me.
A voice no human throat could produce.
“If you have a death wish, touch her again… and I will grant it.”
The man screamed—pure animal terror—and scrambled away on all fours, slipping on the ice until he vanished.
My breath dissolved into steam.
My fingers tightened around my bag.
“Dragomar…” I whispered.
“My beautiful Kira,” he murmured. “I couldn’t stay away.”
I didn’t answer.
I stood, trembling—from fear, shock, cold—and stumbled home.
The moment I shut the door, I broke.
I cried uncontrollably, shoulders shaking, breath tearing out of my chest.
“I know you’re here,” I sobbed. “Come out.”
“Oh, my Kira…” his voice replied softly. “Yes. I am here.”
“Thank you,” I breathed, the words falling out of me like a confession. “Thank you for helping me.”
His shadow approached, wrapping around me in a strange embrace—hot and cold at once, terrifying yet… safe.
He didn’t speak.
He just held me.
Darkness cradling me like something alive.
I pushed myself away.
This vulnerability made me weak around him, made me open in ways I didn’t want to be.
“I can go, if you want,” he murmured. “Or I can stay… quietly.”
“Yes—go,” I said.
Then—
“Stay. Stay for a bit. But… don’t talk to me.”
He obeyed.
Silent.
A patient shadow.
I changed into warm clothes, made hot chocolate, and sat on the couch.
He lingered across the room—watching, not approaching, not speaking.
A sentient shadow who saved me, haunted me, tempted me, destroyed me.
The longer I watched him…
…the warmer my body felt.
…the softer the edges of my fear became.
…the more my chest tightened with something I didn’t want to name.
When he finally moved, I twitched instinctively.
My eyes caught him like a magnet.
He knelt in front of me—right at my knees.
His face still blurry, intangible, like a figure carved out of mist.
He leaned in.
Slowly.
Close enough for me to feel the ghost of a breath that wasn’t air.
I leaned too.
Half pulled by desire, half dragged by something darker.
I didn’t lift my hands.
Didn’t dare touch him.
Didn’t even know if I could.
But I let him reach my mouth.
I closed my eyes.
The anticipation rippled over me, tightening every muscle.
I held my breath like I was ready to dive deep underwater.
His lips brushed mine—
—and a burst of citrus and flowers flooded my senses.
Delicious.
Unreal.
Intoxicating.
I didn’t kiss him back.
I simply let him take.
Let him taste.
Let him devour my breath and fill me with a pleasure so tender it almost hurt.
His body pressed to mine—shadows turning into something solid, gripping, enveloping.
I melted into him, helpless, overwhelmed, torn between desire and shame.
When he finally pulled back, I stayed there—eyes closed, lips parted, suspended in something outside of time.
When I opened my eyes—
—I choked on air.
He wasn’t a shadow anymore.
He had completely materialized.
Tall.
Powerful.
Devastatingly beautiful.
Black hair brushing his shoulders.
Eyes like liquid obsidian.
Skin too flawless to be human.
Lips sculpted for sin.
A silver earring with a blood-red stone glowed faintly at his ear.
A matching ring gleamed on his finger.
He was breathtaking.
Terrifying.
Alive.
He touched my cheek gently.
“Hello, my beautiful Kira,” he said. “I was looking forward to this.”
“You… how? How are you—?”
“Your pleasure fuels me,” he whispered. “Your kiss did this.”
I stared at him, stunned, unable to piece together reality.
Time felt warped.
My own heartbeat, too loud.
His presence, too overwhelming.
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Say nothing,” he murmured. “I will leave you now. Rest. And thank you. It has been a very long time since I could take human form.”
“No—wait.”
I reached out instinctively.
“We can’t do this. I gave you what you wanted. What you kept coming back for. But I still want to be free. Please…”
“I don’t want to break the contract,” he said softly. “You do. And I think you’re lying to yourself.”
His lips curved, dark and haunting.
“You still have until the full moon to decide. Good night… my Kira.”
And then he vanished— leaving my lips tingling, my body burning, and my mind trapped between sin and salvation.
- Writer
